As ya'll have mentioned, the stories were indeed very similiar, and I found myself thinking along the same lines as Dana: Why are both stories necessary? In both, we get the sense of mourning the "death" of the "Old South" and the old ways of living, replaced by the city lifestyle. Of course the difference is in how the old Southerner interacts with the "city negro" in each. The geranium represents this for Old Dudley, as he looks at it and sees people and details from back home (pg. 707).
I had a bit of confusion concerning the endings. In "The Geranium," the neighbor tells Old Dudley that he only tells people once not to stare at him (pg. 713). This is something of an eerie way to end the story. Does a confrontation emerge? Is fear struck in Old Dudley? It just seems like a detail that O'Connor doesn't do anything with. Earlier in the story, the narrator lets us know that Old Dudley could only say things once to his daughter too, for she would not listen the second time (pg. 704). It's a nice structure, but what could she be doing with it? I think maybe O'Connor is getting at the fact that city life is so busy, people here won't give you the time of day to tell you a second time. Danger or violence would be in the place of a second warning, perhaps?
The end of "Judgement Day" was more enigmatic for me. The daughter finds Tanner dead, with his limbs hanging out of the banister, with the hat on his head (pg. 695). I am sure O'Connor is being purposefully vague, but do we think that the "negro actor" left him to die rather than getting him to a hospital? Did they watch him die and set him up purposefully in the disgraceful pose in the stairwell? I am guessing this is his "judgement," but what is he being judged for? And also, no mention of any legal action against the "negro actor" for the violence is given. He did not seem to have to pay any consequences for what he did. I was wondering if anyone else noticed this as well.
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Yeah I noticed that too. He cracked his skull and nothing happened to the actor?!? I saw it as giving a dramatic contrast to his life in the South. When he first meets Coleman he asks him what color he is and to treat him like a white man. Maybe it's just an AWFUL way to exaggerate the belief (especially his daughter's) that the black people in the city are different (maybe that they can do what they want?).
It was very cruel, and I also don't understand what his judgment was for... unless it has something to do with the black doctor he turned down for a job running the still? Or it could just be a way of saying, "there is no judgment day. You just die and nothing happens. Maybe someone will come and make fun of you right before you kick the bucket." The actor does say THIS was his judgment day, meaning, his last moments of thought.
The only person that is actually affected is the daughter, who, when burying him in the South makes her sleep better at night. No hauntings, his soul wasn't tormented... only hers. Maybe Judgment Day means there is none.
I took the end of "Geranium" to be a demonstration of the impersonal quality of relations in a big city. The man across the alley is upset that his small private space has been breached by the grandfather looking through his window. Instead of taking this chance to make a human connection to a neighbor of sorts, he scolds or threatens him.
Another example of this is when the grandfather walks down the steps and sees a woman who reminds him of one of the women in his house from the south. He acts as though he is preparing himself for a conversation with her, but nothing happens. The woman walks past him without stopping or even a smile. I think these are just reminders that making a friendly bond with people in a city is rare—something that the grandfather is not used to.
Also, I think that the first situation can also demonstrate the tendency for young people to be less concerned with respecting their elders. This is also demonstrated by the husbands and the daughters in both stories.
I read the position of Tanner's body as a reference to black lynch mobs in the South. Tanner's body is contorted and displayed with deliberate malice, whether he was found dead or was simply refused aid. Revenge in these stories seems to be a product of "the sins of the fathers," if you will--that's why I appreciated O'Connor's circumspect take on racism. Yes, the African American is resentful about two hundred years of slavery, and continuing segregation and racism. But his actions don't absolve him as a stock character or a victim. He has clearly succeeded in the world (though doubtless racism hindered him at many points and on many levels)--still, where is the source of his deep anger? Simply put, it is in a past (one that perhaps the African American man doesn't even have direct personal access to). The ghost of the historical consciousness acts as a pervasive poison in this story, and I'm not convinced O'Connor absolves any of her characters of it.
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